The electricity, gas and water supply industries are important components of Australia's economy. In 1998-99 they contributed 2% of Australia's gross domestic product and their combined assets accounted for 4% of Australia's total.

Until the late 1980s, the electricity and gas supply industries were comprised of publicly owned, vertically integrated monopoly suppliers which operated in highly regulated State markets. With the establishment of the 1995 National Competition Policy (NCP), a series of reforms were introduced to deregulate and privatise these industries, resulting in significant restructuring of businesses.

The NCP has similar effects on the water supply industry. Prior to NCP this industry was also State owned and highly regulated. With the NCP, the water supply industry underwent substantial changes. In most jurisdictions, urban water authorities have been moved out of government departments and corporatised.

This directory contains comprehensive information on Australian sources of electricity, gas and water supply statistics from both the public and private sectors. It lists Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) collections which contain data related to electricity, gas and water supply, as well as other non-ABS sources. The indexes at the back of this directory provide a quick reference by subject, industry and data source.

The ABS is not responsible for the quality of the information provided by other organisations, and inclusion in this directory should not be taken as an endorsement by the ABS.

If you have information on other data sources, or wish to comment on any other aspect of the directory please contact:

I would like to thank the organisations which have contributed to this directory.

Dennis TrewinAustralian Statistician

1 May 2001

INTRODUCTION

This directory provides researchers with a ready reference to Australian sources of statistical information related to the electricity, gas and water supply industries.

Electricity, gas and water supply are defined in the 1993 edition of the Australian and New Zealand Standard Industrial Classification (ANZSIC) as broadly relating to the generation, transmission or distribution of electricity; the manufacture of town gas from coal and/or petroleum or the distribution of manufactured town gas, natural gas or liquefied petroleum gas through a mains reticulation system; the storage, purification or supply of water; or the operation of sewerage or drainage systems including sewerage treatment plants.

Following are the ANZSIC Subdivisions and Groups of ANZSIC Division D (Electricity, Gas and Water Supply):

Subdivision

Group

Class

Title

36

Electricity and Gas Supply

361

3610

Electricity Supply

362

3620

Gas Supply

37

Water Supply, Sewerage and Drainage Services

370

3701

Water Supply

3702

Sewerage and Drainage Services

The main section of the directory presents details of electricity, gas and water supply-related data sources by broad subject heading. Each data source entry contains sections entitled:

Name of collection

Contact

Purpose

Description

Data detail

Geographic coverage

Frequency of data availability

Historical data

Products and services.

Some entries also contain an 'Example of information available', which illustrates some of the data which are available from that data source. Please note that these examples constitute only a small amount of the information that is available and that more detailed data are available from the 'Contact' for each data source. There may be a charge for obtaining data from an organisation.

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